Merrion Lodge, a transformed double-fronted semidetached home, lies across Merrion Road from the Ailesbury Road junction in Dublin 4. Not only is the location enviable, but pretty much everything about its interiors, gardens and even its detached double garage will stop prospective buyers in their tracks.
The modern renovation is barely discernible from the exterior as it retains its 1930s grace and charm, located at the end of a gravelled driveway behind electric gates. On the market through Sherry FitzGerald, the C2-rated property has an asking price of €3.75 million.
On opening the arched double doors the eye is immediately drawn down the hall – floored in glossy travertine tiles under a vaulted ceiling – to a glazed door looking out to the manicured back gardens. What is now a commodious entrance hall used to be a sittingroom, and features built-in seating in a bay window.
To the left of the hall is a sittingroom with high-quality cabinetry that reappears throughout the 331sq ms (3562sq ft) four-bed, four-bathroom property. It has two additional reception rooms: a family room/den that is accessed via the kitchen, which lies in the centre of the house; and a lovely drawingroom at the end of the hall, overlooking the gardens.
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A clever layout means the smart and sleek kitchen also has great sightlines and ease of access to the hall and the drawingroom via the sunken dining area. Every high-end culinary convenience has been considered and supplied: the units are Bauformat, there’s a central island with Corian worktops, a Quooker tap, a large gas Aga, Siemens ovens and an Insinkerator waste disposal unit.
Beyond the kitchen is a guest WC, the family room and a well fitted out utility room. Steps lead to the dining area, and French doors lead out to an expansive deck, which, in turn, gives way to a patio. It’s easy to imagine all the doors thrown open and the hall, reception rooms and outdoor spaces thronged with party guests; it’s a house that has the capacity to entertain a big crowd.
The garden is laid out in lawn, shrubs and mature trees and is largely maintenance free. It has a wooden summerhouse set up for barbecues and to the side of the house is a detached double garage that offers an additional 95sq m (1,022sq ft) of space.
Currently laid out as a gym downstairs and a games room upstairs, the garage has an air-conditioned wine room and upstairs there is a shower room and a big room with Velux windows.
Back in the house, there’s a gallery on the first floor that breaks up a long corridor, with three bedrooms off it. Two double bedrooms on either side of the corridor are generous, with built-in wardrobes, and the one to the front has a lovely bay window. At the end of the corridor on the right lies a family bathroom; the main bedroom is to the rear of the house.
It has a dressingroom and a luxurious bathroom with a variety of finishes that with a less exacting eye and hand could easily have tipped into ostentation, but the marble surround on the bath, the rich walnut mirror, the antique mirrored splashback work well to create an opulent yet balanced space.
There’s a fourth bedroom on the attic level with a handsome en suite and, to the side of the bedroom, a large storage area.
The propoerty is minutes from Sydney Parade Dart station and just down the road from St Michael’s College, with easy access to the city and local shops and restaurants.
